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The Child (episode)
Deanna Troi is impregnated by an unknown alien lifeform. (Season Premiere) Summary While in her quarters, Lieutenant Commander Troi's body is entered by a strange alien entity. Meanwhile, a plague has broken out on the Rachelis system. The [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS Enterprise]] is preparing to transfer extremely dangerous strains of plasma plague in hopes of an antidote being developed. The Enterprise also has a new Chief Medical Officer – Doctor Katherine Pulaski has replaced Doctor Crusher, who has left to head Starfleet Medical. Captain Picard is annoyed when the new doctor fails to check in with him, and rushes to meet her in Ten Forward. When he arrives, he finds her with Troi, and is informed the latter is pregnant. The counselor claims that the glowing white light that entered her is the "father". Even more bizarre, the fetus is maturing at an unbelievable rate, being ready for birth in only 36 hours, while the normal Betazoid gestation period is ten months. In the briefing room, the senior staff debate the merits and dangers of continuing the pregnancy, but the debate is ended when Troi announces she intends to have the baby. The latter is born several hours later in a painless delivery, and is named Ian Troi after Deanna's deceased father. Some hours later, Dr.Pulaski and Picard come to check on Troi and Ian. They are shocked to find out that Ian is a young boy. Later, the plague advances into a new state and threatens the entire ship. Source of the problem cannot be established until an event occurs between Troi and Ian. Ian states that he is the source of the problem and that he can only resolve the situation. Shortly after, Ian passes away in the arms of Troi and his death is verified by the new acting Medical Officer. Several minutes later Ian transforms back to the glowing white light that visited Troi earlier and thanks Troi for the experience. After this event two facts are established; first, the white light was an alien lifeform interested in humans and took it upon itself to experience human interaction by becoming one. Secondly, the formation of the new plague was caused by the entity which emitted an electric charge that caused the plague to multiply. Wesley Crusher was expected to join his mother at Starfleet Medical during her duration there. Wesley debates about his departure from the Enterprise and while doing so he is observed by new shipmate, Guinan. The two carry a conversation about his status on the Enterprise and what is in his best interest. Wesley meets with Picard and requests that he stay on the Enterprise. Picard doesn't decide right away, feeling that the decision wasn't his responsibility alone and that allowing Wesley to remain would create difficulties for all. Picard decides that Data will assume responsibility for Wesley's studies. When Riker asks "who will tuck him in at night?" Worf accepts that responsibility although Troi expresses confidence that Wes will get his sleep. Picard agrees that the practical is then taken care of but as there's much more to growing up than just the practical matters, he then asks Riker if he would be interested in serving in that regard and Riker agrees. With that taken care of, Picard tells Wesley to communicate with his mother at Starfleet Medical, giving her Picard's regards and telling her that Picard has approved Wesley's request to stay on Enterprise, but that the final decision would be hers. Wesley is grateful and enthusiastically believes that Beverly will agree. Wesley Crusher becomes the regular conn (helm) officer on the bridge as La Forge is relocated as Chief Engineer to the rear of the bridge. Picard refers to Wesley as "ensign" in the end and it seems that Wesley has in fact been accepted into Starfleet and his status as acting ensign is secure. Log Entries *[[Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2365#Mission to Science Station Tango Sierra|Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2365]] Background Information * This is the premiere episode of TNG's 2nd Season. Composer Dennis McCarthy heralds the return of TNG with a "triumphant" rendition of "Picard's Theme." * This is also the first episode in which Riker wears a beard. He gained it after Jonathan Frakes returned for filming having grown it, intending to shave it off for the new season. But the producers liked it so much that they asked him to keep it. He would eventually shave it off many years later in (although he regrew it by time came around). * This episode marks the first appearance of Worf's silver baldric, which he would keep throughout the remainder of The Next Generation, throughout his stint on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and in all four TNG movies. His previous baldric had closely resembled the type worn by Klingon commanders in the classic Star Trek series and was reportedly the same baldric that John Colicos had worn as Kor in and Michael Ansara as Kang in . This episode also shows that Worf is now the official permanent security chief, having been made "acting" chief of security following the death of Tasha Yar in . * During the first scene of the episode, a tan handbag or purse is noticeably sitting on the floor of the Enterprise bridge. * This episode was actually a rewrite of an episode with the same title written for Star Trek: Phase II, a series that was scrapped in favor of producing . In the Phase II script, Ilia was "impregnated." This rewrite was largely due to the writer's strike. * Before this episode (but after Stardate 41986.0), Lt. JG Geordi La Forge was promoted to Lieutenant and became Chief Engineer of the Enterprise, and he and Lt. JG Worf both switched to the operations division. * This episode introduced the characters of Katherine Pulaski and Guinan. :Dr. Beverly Crusher is explained to have left the ship to become head of Starfleet Medical. Actress Gates McFadden, however, was fired at the end of season one so the producers could introduce Pulaski to "shake up" the "feel good" camaraderie of the main cast. :Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg asked Gene Roddenberry to create a recurring role for her because she was a big fan of the show. * This is the first episode where Wesley Crusher wears a communicator, even though he was made an acting ensign in Season 1 and there is nothing to indicate a status change since that time. * The communicator Wesley wears in the first scene is the standard Silver Delta on Gold Ellipse insignia, however for all remaining scenes, the communicator is a Silver Delta on Silver Ellipse. The change takes place while Commander Riker steps in to the captain's ready room. When he steps out, the communicator is changed. Wesley also wears the 'standard' communicator again briefly while he steps to the window in Ten Forward - it switches to the non-standard form when the camera cuts to a closer shot. * Wesley also debuts his gray "acting ensign's" uniform, which he'll wear until the end of the third season episode . * The panel that Dr. Katharine Pulaski brings up to research the origins of the plasma plague contains the names of TNG staff Rob Bowman, Maurice Hurley, Jaren Sommers, Jon Povill, Robert Legato, and Gary Hutzel. * From this episode going forward, the transporter will be "energized" by running the hand above the three "glow strips" on the console, similar to how TOS's transporter was activated. :Those glow strips have been on the console since the beginning of the series, but not used to energize the transporter until now. * It sounds like actor Seymour Cassel provided the (uncredited) voice of the [[USS Repulse|USS Repulse]]'s Captain Taggert, in addition to playing Hester Dealt on screen. :Taggert appeared later in the season, during , and was played by J. Patrick McNamara. * We learn that Troi's father's name was Ian Andrew Troi. * The warp speed visual effect, shown from inside the Enterprise, debuts in this episode. :On DS9, it will be modified to include a "flash" at the end of the sequence. * Ten Forward debuts in this episode. It's located on Deck 10, Forward Station 1. :The turbolift command to get there will later be shortened to "Deck 10, Forward," or simply "Ten Forward." * Guinan doesn't talk too much about herself in-depth. The crew speculates that she's very old, which turns out to be true, and comes from Novachron. We won't learn that she's El-Aurian until Star Trek Generations. :Guinan may have concealed (or been asked to conceal) the name of her species to prevent people from asking too many questions about what happened to the El-Aurians. Awards *This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) (Dennis McCarthy). Video and DVD releases *Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 14, . *UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 2.1, . *As part of the TNG Season 2 DVD collection. Links and References Guest Stars *Diana Muldaur as Katherine Pulaski *Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan *Seymour Cassel as Hester Dealt *R.J. Williams as Ian Troi *Dawn Arnemann as Miss Gladstone *Zachary Benjamin as young Ian *Dore Keller as engineering ensign *Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien *Guy Vardaman as Darien Wallace (uncredited) References 2294; 2295; Arneb; 'aucdet IX; 'aucdet system; Betazoids; cyanoacrylates; biobed; Bowman, Dr. Rob; ''D'Alison''; Delovian souffle; dog; eichner radiation; Epsilon Indi; Hurley, Dr. Maurice; Lorenze Cluster; Mareuvian tea; Morgana Quadrant; mutation; Nova Kron; Nuress, Dr. Susan; nursery; Oby VI; Oby system; plasma plague; Povill, Dr. Jon; Prometheus; Rachelis system; ''Repulse'', USS; saucer separation; Science Station Tango Sierra; ''Stargazer'', USS; subspace phase inverter; Summers, Dr. Jaron; Starfleet Medical; Transporter Room Three; Troi, Ian Andrew; Troi, Lwaxana |next= }} Child, The de:Das Kind es:The Child fr:The Child nl:The Child